The Sword, The Mirror, and The Jewel
by Selene of the Goblins
Summary: In which time traveling into the past does not have the desired effect. The Forces of Time are not done with you or your vanished bride yet, Samurai. (This is the expanded version of my previous short story, The Woman on The Moon.)
1. Prologue

_Fifty years had come and gone since the legends of the lost in time Samurai had begun._

 _He did not age. Time had no effect on him._

 _All of the time portals were destroyed. His sword had left him. It seemed that Aku had won._

 _His mind was coming undone; his own inner self telling him that there was only one honorable way left._

 _And then, he met her._

 _The Daughter of Darkness. The only good thing that ever came from Aku._

 _She had once cursed his name as a blight on Aku's world and tried to kill him, but when she learned that she had been deceived, she vowed to help the Samurai stop Aku._

 _She stopped him from committing seppuku._

 _She stopped an Army from destroying him._

 _She had even stopped her own mother. That horrible woman who had twisted her fate and doomed her sisters._

 _She had helped him regain his sword and he began to trust her with his life._

 _Eventually, they discovered that they felt more for each other than either of them had ever believed possible._

 _Within a short time, Aku discovered the existence of his Daughter, and used her against the man she loved, twisting her into a demon and controlling her._

 _It was only by reaching out to her heart that the Samurai was able to free her._

 _In a sudden discovery, the Daughter realized that she had all of her father's powers._

 _All of them._

 _Before they allowed Aku any other action, the Daughter tore open a portal in time and guided the Samurai back to his original time. The time before Aku enslaved the Earth._

 _In was in that lost time that the Samurai struck down Aku, and his presence vanished from the world._

 _Unfortunately, being that the Samurai was from a time long before her birth, Aku's death also brought about her own undoing, and the Daughter of Darkness vanished in his arms._

 _The Samurai wandered in despair. It was only upon seeing a ladybug, a creature that had been involved in the first moment of peace between the two of them, that he began to feel a sense of peace, for he believed that the Daughter's soul was now free of the bonds it had held with Aku._


	2. Chapter 1

After a day of traveling across a wasteland that had been littered with the bodies of soldiers that had dared to face her in battle, Ashi wandered about in search of food, as Jack made haste to create a campfire.

He saw her petite form approach with arms full various edible plants just as he had gotten the fire going.

After a simple meal, they laid down on opposite sides of the campfire and attempted to sleep. Much of the adrenaline she had gotten from the battle had prevented this.

She looked to her companion, finding him laying still but awake. His new white gi covering most of himself, and his long lost sword still in his hands.

Her mind wandered back to the night she first told him to tell her the truth about himself, and of Aku.

"Jack?" Ashi asked timidly, looking to the night sky. "Do you know other stories? Like the one about the stars that you told me?"

Jack looked up and found his eyes drawn to the waxing moon.

"I know one about a woman who lives on the moon," he answered. "But… it's not a happy tale."

"Tell it to me," she encouraged.

He paused and then began:

" _Long ago, there lived a kind but poor Bamboo Cutter and his Wife who longed to have a child. One day, when the Bamboo Cutter and his Wife were working in his grove and they came to a stalk that was bigger than the others._

 _He cut it open and found a little girl inside of it._

 _"Who are you?" The Wife asked her._

 _"My name is Princess Kaguya," she told them. "I am here to be your daughter."_

 _The Bamboo Cutter told her sadly, "I wish we could be your family, but we are so poor that we would not be able to give you the care you need."_

 _"Fear not, dear Father," Kaguya said. "For our house shall be greatly blessed. Please go and cut another bamboo stalk."_

 _The Bamboo Cutter did as Kaguya asked. He was shocked to discover that whenever he cut a bamboo stalk, a gold nugget would fall from it._

 _It was with this blessing that Kaguya and her new family were able to build a small palace of their own and live comfortably._

 _As time went on, Kaguya grew up to become one of the most beautiful women in all of the land. Many men came to ask for her hand but the Bamboo Cutter only allowed five to approach her._

 _Kaguya, however, did not want to marry, so she gave each of her five suitors an impossible task. More than one tried to reason with her, but she was adamant in her requests. Not one of the suitors could accomplish what she asked of them._

 _Word of the five suitors and the tasks eventually reached the ears of the Emperor. He found himself quite curious about what kind of woman would issue such tests and requested to meet her._

 _When the Emperor laid eyes upon her, he fell deeply in love and asked her to become his wife, but Kaguya only looked sadly upon the Emperor and told him, "Forgive me, but I can not marry you, for I am not a citizen of this land."_

 _The Emperor was confused. "If you are not one of my subjects, then where are you from?" he asked._

 _"I am from the Kingdom of the Moon," she confessed to him. "I was sent here to grant a wish at the request of my own King. My time in this land is ending and I must return within a few nights. My King will be sending an envoy to escort me home."_

 _The Emperor was horrified at the thought of never seeing her again and stationed a battalion of his finest soldiers outside her home in order to stop the envoy._

 _When night fell and the moon was highest in the sky, the soldiers saw a bright flash of light and found themselves blinded._

 _When daybreak came, the sight of the soldiers was restored, and Kaguya was nowhere to be found._

 _In her room, they found a strange vial and letter addressed to the Emperor from Kaguya. The letter thanked the Emperor for his hospitality and revealed that the strange vial was the Elixir of Life, which would grant immortality to the drinker._

 _Heartbroken, the Emperor refused to drink it, for he didn't want to live forever knowing the woman he loved would not be a part of it. So, he ordered the Elixir to be burned upon the highest mountain in the land."_

Ashi was silent for a time.

"That's a depressing story," she finally said.

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "I did warn that it's not a happy tale."

She spoke again after a moment.

"Was Kaguya in love with the Emperor?" she asked.

He raised a brow at her question.

"Well..." he paused, trying to think of how to explain it. "It varies from telling to telling."

"What about your telling?"

He felt himself beginning to become flustered. "W-why do you think that's important?"

"Well… she could have given the Emperor an impossible task like she did with her other suitors, but she decided to tell him the truth instead. Why would she do that? Did she not want to go back to the Moon? Did she think the Emperor could help her? And if that was preventing her from taking a husband, then why not tell the other suitors that? And why offer the Emperor the Elixir?"

Jack thought for a moment. "I don't think telling the suitors the truth would have stopped them from pursuing her. I suppose it's possible that Kaguya may have had feelings for the Emperor."

He started to ask what brought on all her questions, only to glance over and see that she had fallen asleep.

Her short dark hair framing her face and her body covered by the strange dress of leaves she had fashioned. She seemed so peaceful. It was strange to him to think that this woman had once attempted to take his life.

Today she had proven that he was able to trust her, and he was glad of that. As he began to drift to sleep, he couldn't help thinking that she looked beautiful.

* * *

She had felt Aku leave the world. He assured her that he could never hurt anyone ever again, and they embraced for the first time since the moment they realized they felt more than just companionship for each other.

* * *

Ashi walked slowly and gracefully towards the alter of the Shinto Temple where Jack waited for her. Her white wedding robes contrasting to his black ones.

Part of her wanted to take in the sight of everyone, all the people of this time that had helped him, but all she could think of was the man waiting for her with the Priest and she couldn't help returning his gentle smile, eager to start this new life with him.

As she neared the halfway point, a strange feeling overtook her and her smile vanished. She tried to take another step, only to lose her balance and fall.

She knew what was happening. She had feared it coming once she had felt Aku leave this world. However, hours turned into days, weeks, and then months. After so much time, she began to feel that she was safe without him; that she could exist. The feeling now told her that it could not be.

She felt Jack's hands on her, holding her upright.

He said her name, worried for her.

She opened her eyes, feeling weak and knowing that she was fading.

"Jack."

"What's wrong?"

With what strength she could summon, she placed her hand to his cheek. "Without Aku, I never would have existed," she explained.

She was vaguely aware of him saying something as she let her eyes close.

She felt herself awaken suddenly hearing a voice laughing. This would not have been concerning, had it not been a voice that she'd thought that she'd never have to hear again.


	3. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: I'd like to extend a big thank you to technotreegrass, who helped me out when I was writing this chapter._

* * *

The giant, black tree demon looked down to the petite form of his daughter, standing over the fallen form of his enemy.

"Is he dead?" he bellowed to her.

She turned towards him, her four horns and eyes of flame no longer a part of her appearance; exchanged for her human features.

"No," she answered, her anger growing in her voice. "And he never will be."

Aku looked down at her in shock. "How dare you talk back to your father!"

"No! You're not my father."

"Yes, I am!" he said, his anger growing.

"No, you're not!"

Aku morphed his arm into a long blade, bringing it down upon her with a growl in his voice, only to witness her counter his attack with a shape shifted arm blade of her own.

Enraged, his other arm morphed into a blade to match his other, and attempted to bring it down on top of her. She mimicked his movements with a transformation of her other arm as well and deflected his second attack.

Aku let his eyes grow red hot and released a fiery energy from his eyes towards her. His actions were once again mirrored by her, causing an explosion between them.

"Ashi! You have Aku's powers!" the Samurai said in surprise.

The woman let out a small gasp at the statement. "I do!"

Without saying another word, Aku watched her stretch out her arm to reclaim the Samurai's sword and heard a screech that was all too familiar to his ears. He looked in horror as his traitor daughter and the Samurai became enveloped in a white light.

He quickly reached out to grab them, but the light vanished with them, and all he grabbed at was the red dirt of the ground.

"Oh, no."

He clawed at the ground in disbelief, some of the Allies making out him whispering the word "no" over and over again under his breath.

A blue specter began to laugh, "It's over for you, Tree Ogre! Jack's won!"

"BE SILENT!" Aku bellowed. "I AM STILL MASTER OF THIS WORLD!"

"Jack told me what Time Portals looked like, you daft fool!" The specter kept speaking. "He's gone back to the past! You've lost!"

The other Allies listened and let the ghost's words sink in.

Jack had returned to the past. Their nightmare would soon end. A great cheer was released amongst them. Their world would be remade without Aku in it.

Aku felt his anger growing, mixed with fear. As he began to try to regain control, he caught the scent of something odd.

He could smell part of himself in a different location.

Confused, he turned and looked down to the ground at the still, human form, covered from neck to toe in a black layer.

Her hair was longer and pinned up, but there was no mistaking that it was the same woman.

He let out a laugh that intensified with each second.

* * *

Ashi felt herself suddenly awake, hearing the sound of a laugh in the voice of someone that she prayed that she'd never hear again.

She stood, looking up at the massive, black form. Thin arms decorated with claws instead of fingers. Six horns at the sides of his head and eyes surrounded by flames.

"AKU?! BUT- NO! JACK DESTROYED YOU!" She exclaimed, her mind barely processing his presence. "I FELT YOU LEAVE!"

Between choked laughter, he taunted, "It seems… time is not linear. Traveling backwards in time did nothing! My rule over this world will never end!"

Ashi looked around her, seeing the Allies that had come to help Jack still there just as she remembered them, staring down at her, confused and frightened.

She ground her teeth and clenched her fists as Aku's words sunk in.

It did nothing.

Defeating him in the past did nothing.

"Oh, such an angry little girl," he said mocking her. "What are you going to do?"

Ashi felt her eyes grow hot and looked up to him, releasing a red hot energy from her being, forcing him over backwards.

"I can do enough," she said, running towards him. Her arms changing into blades as she did.

Aku's fists morphed into a pair of giant, cylindrical masses and he began pounding at the ground where he saw her move. Ashi dodged them and jumped towards his chest, bringing one of her blades down, making contact and slicing at him.

The Allies expected him to shake it off, to just reform at her cut as if it didn't happen.

But he didn't.

He screamed and recoiled from her. His claws clutching at where she had sliced at him. He felt liquid at his hands. He forced himself to pull his limbs away and looked to find a strange, dark purple colored ooze coming out of him. She looked at him in surprise, not being sure what it was.

His features, no longer looking down in mockery, twisted in wrath.

"So, you want to spill blood, do you Girl?" he said, his tone dark and enraged.

Blood. The word echoed in her mind. She had drawn blood. That was all the information she needed. She had attacked in anger, but now she knew that she could hurt him. There was shot. She might be able to kill him.

Ashi braced herself as she watched him morph his body, preparing to slice at him again as he came bounding towards her on four powerful legs as a great, black bear. He barely moved out of the way as she swung her arms at him. He made a move to strike her as she rolled out of the way, but went beyond his reach. She ran towards his side, meaning to slice at his back leg, only have him counter her attack and kick her in the face.

She hit the ground, her head pounding from the impacts. She opened her eyes in time to see him right on top of her. She stretched out her arms and pierced his chest, pulling her blades outwards to open his sides. His face twisted in pain as he fell over backwards.

Ashi struggled to get up, her body aching as she watched each of his muscular limbs split into two, and his fur gave way to a hardened exoskeleton. He had fallen down as a bear and was now rising back up as a giant spider that was at least twice her height. She didn't care what form he was in. All she knew was that she couldn't allow him to continue living in whatever world this was.

He began slamming his legs downwards, attempting to stab her. She found them simple to dodge. Before she could question why that was, just as she dodged one leg, she felt a horrible, piercing pain in her arm and her foot, and screamed out in agony.

Aku laughed at her. "Not so strong it seems," he said, trying to pull his leg out.

Thinking quickly, Ashi grabbed at his offending leg, gritting her teeth in pain as she used the very arm that he had used to puncture her to grapple him into place. The blade of her other arm, taking a slight curve as she raised it upwards, slashed at his abdomen frantically, desperate leave a deeper wound.

Ashi felt herself lifted and thrown across the floor. She hissed in pain as she looked to find a bird in place of the spider.

The grotesque creature coughed up more of the dark purple blood as it spoke grimly.

"This is not over. You will die when we meet again, Girl."

She watched as it flew upwards. Forcing herself to stand, she tried to move towards it, only for darkness to over take her vision.

* * *

When she finally opened them again, she felt a horrible dull pain all over her body. She tried to get up only to feel as though her flesh and bones had been changed into lead and iron.

"Oh, my dear. You shouldn't move," she heard someone say. She turned her head to a strange sight. A small dog with white and gray in his blue fur and a monocle over one of his eyes.

"You lost so much blood during that fight, we feared you'd become one of the departed," he told her in the same voice. She found herself not caring about her captor's form.

"Aku, he-" she started.

"Yes, yes. We know. We all saw what you were able to do to him. It was truly impressive," he told her. "We don't know exactly where he went, but he's being tracked by members of the Spartan Army and the some of the daughters of that ghostly Scotsman fellow. They'll certainly find him and where ever he makes his new fortress. Uh… the other one vanished when he left, you see. No telling where it will be next."

"Well, everyone should be relieved to know you've survived. You should rest now and regain your strength, dear lady. After all-"

"She can't rest very well, if you don't stop speaking to her," said a low, calm voice. Ashi turned her head as best as she could to see a creature with a furry, elephant like body and an almost human face.

The dog looked at the creature and back to her.

"Oh, goodness me! I do apologize!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Do join us outside when you feel ready, Miss…?"

"Ashi," she answered him. "My name is Ashi."


	4. Chapter 3

Ashi reawakened, sore and stiff. Pushing herself upwards from her cot, she finally got a look around what appeared to be a large tent.

The only other creature in the tent was the elephant like creature that had told the Dog to let her rest, and he was fiddling with something on the table on the other side.

"Um… excuse me?" Ashi called out, surprised by the apparent weakness in her voice. The strange creature turned to her.

"Oh, good! You've reawakened," he said in a calm voice. "How do feel?"

"Better than I did," Ashi said. "How did I get here?"

"Aku flew off after you wounded him and his fortress started to collapse. You fell unconscious and one of those giant, Scottish ladies carried you out. You lost a lot of blood because of your injuries. Many of us feared you might have been too far gone."

Ashi looked to her own wounds and found tight bandages on her arm and foot.

"Thank you," she said, trying to stand. The creature extended his stump like hand to her. She took it, once she realized it how much it hurt to place pressure on her foot.

"Where are we, and who's 'we'?"

"Less than a mile from where… where his fortress stood. Many of the Allies who came to save Jack are still here. All of the groups have chosen a leader. They're waiting to speak with you, when you feel able. I must warn you, several of us think you may be our salvation from Aku, but many are frightened of you," he told her.

"You don't seem afraid of me," she commented.

The creature hesitated before it spoke again. "I must confess, I only agreed to help you after my tribe's Elder arrived and looked over you. My Woolie brethren and I could sense a strange evil in you. The Elder assured us that while it may have played some kind of hand in your creation, you were not driven by it."

"I pray that you aren't offended," the Woolie concluded.

"No," Ashi sighed. "I… I get it. Don't worry about it."

"So… where are the Leaders you spoke of?" she asked.

"In another tent outside," he explained. "I think it might be best if I helped you walk there."

Ashi held onto his arm as he helped her slowly and carefully walk outside. She saw that it was as the Woolie said. Many, if not all, of the allies who had come to Jack's aid were still present. Humans, in various styles of clothing, along with people from the tribe of long-necked Archers she recognized from when she and Jack were separated, robots, what she assumed were Woolies, as they looked just like the being assisting her, a frog-like people with green skin and tall, long bodies, dogs walking on their hind legs and wearing a strange white hats she didn't recognize, and what seemed to be a troop of white monkeys.

She tried to concentrate on walking, but she couldn't help feeling eyes upon her as her assistant helped her to the large, central tent, guarded by men in leather and bronze armor, who pulled the flap that closed off the tent aside for them as they neared.

Ashi looked inside and found more eyes upon her and seemingly surrounded by one of each of the people and creatures she had seen.

One was a robot with golden plating, damaged as if he had been in an explosion. Another was one of the strange frog like people she had seen. There was a man dressed like the soldiers in bronze armor and leather with a red cape and a crown. The Dog that had spoken to her in her tent was there as well. One of the long necked Archers was among them, along with what seemed to be an older version of a Woolie who had long, grayed, tangled locks. There was also what seemed to be a ghost of a middle aged man wearing a kilt, along with an old, white haired man in a loin cloth and an elder woman with her hair done in a pair of buns and wearing a colorful outfit.

There was an uncomfortable silence amongst them, as if no one really knew who should speak first.

Ashi decided to take the initiative and cleared her throat. "This Woolie has told me that you all have questions," she started. "But I have questions myself that I don't think anyone in this realm can answer. I don't know how it's possible that Aku is still alive."

"What do you mean?" the frog like creature asked.

"Did the Samurai not fail?" the armor clad man asked.

Everyone began asking questions all at once, so much so that Ashi became unable to tell who was asking what. As she was about to ask everyone to wait, there came a great bellow from the old tangled Woolie that sounded very much like the word, "quiet."

Everyone looked to the creature in silence as it turned towards Ashi.

"Start from the beginning, child," the Woolie asked her in a deep, echoing voice. "What exactly happened after you entered the time portal with Jack?"

Ashi wasn't sure what else to tell them. So, she decided to tell them everything.

* * *

A great deal of things had happened amongst the Realm of the Gods since the defeat of Aku, not the least of with was the very visible split in time, which was the current concern of the various Gods of Fate and Destiny.

The Norns could be heard screaming when they realized their beloved tree had split in half and The Moirai cried as they desperately tried to untangle their Threads. Were it not for the unspoken truce that forbade the Pantheons from warring on one another, several may have considered starting one with the Norse, the Hindi, and the Egyptians for what many of them called their leaders' indiscretion with the issue concerning sending a walking time portal to their appointed without asking of them if it was a good idea first.

The Lotter of the Moirai, Lachesis, had begged her sisters for a break, exhausted from trying to sort their threads. She wandered about the Pantheons, seeing only that they were all suffering from the same headache and horror.

As she had begun to pass through the Akkadians, her eyes fell to an old friend who seemed uncommonly still, and she could only feel a deep concern as she decided to go to her.

"Hail, Mamitu! Goddess of Fate and Destiny!" She said upon approach, seeing her in her usual green tiered-fringe dress. The Goddess turned her head to the Greek in her white toga.

"Lachesis," she said slowly. "Have you been watching them?"

"I couldn't stand being around our Threads anymore. My fingers hurt from trying to detangle them," she said, not being sure what she was asking.

"They changed it, Lachesis. Everyone's been so concerned with the effects of the split on our side that they haven't noticed it yet," Mamitu said grimly.

Lachesis stared at her blankly.

"Mamitu, what are you talking about?"

"They're separated, Lachesis," she stated, standing up, her anger growing as she spoke. "He's in the new one that got made and she got sent back to the other. Those idiots separated them! They undid the fates that we wrote for the Samurai and the Daughter!"


	5. Chapter 4

Lachesis froze as her mind tried to process her fellow deity's statement. Eventually, she could only bring herself to say a single word.

"What?"

"Oh, Gods. Lachesis, don't make me repeat it." Mamitu spat, taking out her disgust. "If you don't believe me, go look for yourself."

Lachesis looked into their now two mortal realms. In one, she saw the Samurai, alone and in mourning. In the other, she saw the Daughter, lost and confused.

"But… but this can't be!" she exclaimed. "They were supposed to have peace together! We all agreed on that! That was supposed to be her reward for switching sides and helping him! W-why did they-? How-?!"

"I don't know!" Mamitu exclaimed. She took a deep breath before she spoke again, her voice taking a much calmer tone.

"I don't know. What I do know is that the split in time has caused a massive headache for anyone calling themselves a deity of time, destiny, or fate. We do know that this goes against the fate we wrote for them and we need to correct whatever caused this. We should alert the other Gods and call counsel immediately."

"Well, yes, I should say so," Lachesis agreed. "I'll get my sisters immediately."

As she she began to walk away, Mamitu gently placed a hand to her arm.

"I pray you'll forgive my snapping at you, my friend," she said, humbly.

Lachesis smiled and held her hand. "There is nothing to forgive."

The Moirai returned quickly with her sisters in hand, finding her meeting place with Mamitu occupied with all of the other Deities of Time, Fate, and Destiny from every Pantheon, including the ones many would hold objections to.

While the rest of their Pantheons would have objected to the mere idea of including them, their particular section was well aware that The Norns, Hemsut, and Kali were the first of them to object to their Pantheon Leaders' actions and refused to begrudge them for it.

Mamitu explained what they had observed and motioned for all of them to look into the two realms to see for themselves.

"I will not allow this separation to continue, as it goes against the Fate that I personally wrote for them," Mamitu concluded, as many of them looked into the now two mortal realms. "However, there may be other forces at play besides our individual machinations. Does anyone have any idea how this could have happened? Did anyone write or decide something that could have contradicted what we agreed upon?" she asked.

After a few moments of silence amongst them, Hemsut cleared her throat.

"I don't believe that this was caused by one of us. I fear that it could be a side effect of the creation of another timeline," she said. "Ashi was born in a world where Aku had lived for much longer than the second mortal realm. Mortals can't really exist in worlds where their bloodlines didn't. At least, not for an extended period of time."

"So… what? Should we push the Samurai back into the first timeline?" Mamitu asked.

The Norns looked to her in alarm.

"Well..." Urd began. "We could, but... we have reason to believe that we would need explicit permission from the Shinto beforehand."

"Whatever for?" Mamitu asked, raising an eyebrow at the statement.

"A Goddess of the Shinto Pantheon met with Odin the other day," Verdandi stated. "Apparently, she had once had her own plan for her human descendants to destroy the darkness that became Aku, but allowed them to handle the situation at their request since they were the ones who let it fall to the Earth. She was obscenely angry about how they'd handled everything, particularly that they let someone of her bloodline wander around for fifty years."

Mamitu paused in thought.

"I see. Do you know which Goddess it was?" she inquired.

"The All-Father called her Amaterasu."

* * *

Even before Ashi completed her tale, she well aware of the looks on most of the faces in the room. From skeptic to confused, she could tell that most thought she was either lying or insane. The only one she couldn't read was the old Woolie, who kept his expression neutral the whole time.

As she she finished, she was greeted with only silence.

"Ashi," the old Woolie said slowly. "Would you object to my reading your memories?"

"Reading my- How would that even be possible?" she questioned.

"It is one of my gifts as the Eldest of Woolies. Please, we only want to know the truth," he stated.

Under a different set of circumstances, Ashi would have been insulted at the implication that she had lied. However, the looks from everyone in the tent told her now wasn't the time to walk away in anger.

"Alright," she said calmly, turning to face him directly. Her assisting Woolie turned as well. "How does this work?"

The old Woolie extended his hand to her.

"Place your hand in his," her assistant told her. Ashi did as instructed.

"Forgive me," the old Woolie said. "This will not harm you physically, but it may stir up buried emotions."

"Um… alright?" Ashi said curiously, not being sure what to expect.

The Eldest Woolie's eyes began to glow a brilliant white light. Before Ashi could question what was happening, she suddenly saw her entire life flash in front of her as though she were reliving it all.

Her sisters. Her mother. The cult. Her vow to kill Jack. Her realization of the truth. Her journey searching for him. Stopping him from committing seppuku. Protecting him from the Army of Orcs and destroying her mother. The fight on the crashed spaceship. Her realization of what she felt for him. The day she met Aku and he took control of her. Jack telling her he loved her and freeing her from his control. Opening the time portal and defeating Aku in the past. All the days that they had spent together and the work they did restoring his kingdom.

And finally, their wedding.

As the rush of memories finished, the Eldest Woolie retracted his hand and she felt herself snapped back into the present. Ashi looked to him for an explanation and he could only look upon her with an expression that seemed as if he was about to cry.

"I am sorry that you had to endure such horrors at such a young age," he told her sadly.

"Horrors?" the thin, green man repeated in curiosity.

"My apologies," the old Woolie said after a moment. "It is not my place to tell of this woman's life. However, she speaks the truth of what happened to the Samurai and her relationship to him."

"Then... returning to his own time didn't help," the long necked Archer said out loud.

The man in leather armor inhaled deeply as he placed his hand on his chin.

"How fascinating," the Dog said. "Your testimony of what happened seems to disprove the ideas of time being linear and prove Multiverse Theory."

Ashi looked at him in silence. "What's Multiverse Theory?" she eventually asked.

"Oh, do forgive me. Allow me to explain," he said, drawing a line in the ground with his foot, along with two x marks at opposite ends of the line. "Let's say this line represents the flow of time, and these two Xs represent Jack's original time and what is our present day. When you opened a time portal in the present day and traveled back in time to alter our present, rather than rewriting the already existent time line," he stopped briefly to draw a second line coming off one of the Xs. "- it created another one. What I'm not certain of how you came to return here without another portal."

The tall, thin, green man stood, walking over to look at the drawing in the dirt. After a moment, he turned to Ashi. "You said that you felt yourself fading away in the other timeline?" he asked her.

"Yes," Ashi said.

He paused in thought for a moment. "Something relating to Multiverse Theory may have occurred, but what if the rules of linear time are still in play?" he asked, directing his question to the Dog.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"What if she was sent back here because she can't exist in a world where Aku didn't?" he suggested.

"What a scientific discovery!" the Dog said. "Truly fascinating!"

His eyes suddenly went to Ashi.

"Oh! Do forgive me. I don't mean to be insulting. I'm certain that this hasn't been a pleasant experience for you, Miss Ashi, but..."

"Oh, no. You're fine," Ashi stopped him. "It's fine. At least I have some kind of explanation now."

* * *

A few days passed, as word spread of Ashi's story. Looks of suspicion continued, but many were now much more curious about the woman who had held her ground against Aku without a weapon and lived (and whom apparently stole Samurai Jack's heart).

As Ashi began being able to walk without assistance, she found herself being approached more by the people around her. One day, she found herself being followed about by the old man in a loin cloth that was in the tent with the other leaders. She turned to him and asked if he needed something.

He approached her cautiously, sniffing. He came closer and sniffed again. He suddenly went wide eyed and began grinning from ear to ear.

"You have Friend's scent!" he exclaimed. "You tell truth! You Friend's Mate!"

"Friend? Do you mean Jack?" she asked.

"Yes! Friend taught Tribe how to defend long ago. Then, Tribe teach Friend to jump good! Friend teach you, yes?"

"Jump good?" Ashi repeated, confused by his statement.

"Jump good!" the old man exclaimed. "Like this!"

He suddenly jumped upwards well over ten times his own height. Surprised, Ashi took a few steps back, looking upwards and watching him as he came back down and landed in front of her with unexpected grace.

"I… I can't say I've ever seen Jack jump like that," Ashi responded.

"Tribe teach you to jump good! Help you beat up big ugly black thing, yes?"

Ashi laughed at his description.

* * *

"Dad! How can you mistrust her?" Flora exclaimed.

"I refuse to believe what she said. I don't care what that old tangled, fluff ball of an elephant reject says," the ghostly Scotsman stated.

"She risked her life and nearly died fighting Aku," Ilana said. "She wouldn't have done that if she was in his corner."

"That's not what I mean! I refuse to believe Jack was gonna marry that skinny little twig of a woman!"

"Really?" Flora questioned after a moment of silence. "That's what's weirding you out?"

"Ignore him," Ilsa said. "He's just sore that the Samurai turned down his offer to let him pick one of us for a bride."

Everyone who was inside the Scottish Clan's tent knew what brought this on. Everyone outside of the tent however, was greeted with a rather alarming and confusing chorus of female voices all saying the same thing.

"YOU OFFERED WHAT?!"

* * *

The Gods of Time made their way though their Unearthly Realm until they reached the entrance of Takamagahara. Before they could seek entrance, they were greeted by a Goddess in a brilliantly white and red kimono.

She looked upon the group, perplexed by their presence. "What brings the Gods of Time, Fate, and Destiny to this door?"

Mamitu stepped forward.

"We have an unusual situation on our hands," she began. "The split in time has caused the Fates written for the Samurai and the Daughter to become impossible, unless we intervene. In consideration of Amaterasu's personal connection to the Samurai, we seek her permission to do so."

The Goddess gained a look of displeasure. "I have no interest in allowing other Pantheons to intrude on my descendants ever again," she said sternly.

Mamitu bowed her head, realizing who she was speaking to. "We do not begrudge you for feeling so. Your living descendants have suffered much, and we would not have them continue to do so because of a foolish mistake."

After a tense moment of silence, Amaterasu spoke again, asking. "What is this impossibility that you speak of?"


	6. Chapter 5

A handful of days had passed when a handful of the red haired women returned with more of the soldiers in bronze and leather armor. (Ashi had learned that these were soldiers of Sparta, and the man who had been dressed similarly in the tent with the other leaders was their King.)

Word spread quickly that they had lost Aku's trail and the encampment that was formed began to dissipate.

On the day the Woolies began to return to their homeland, the one who had been helping Ashi checked over her one last time and found her wounds had healed over, leaving darkened impressions on her skin.

"I'm afraid I can't do much for scars. You could probably find some kind of salve you could use to lighten them somewhere," he said.

"This is fine. Thank you for helping me," she replied and began to leave his tent.

"Wait!" he suddenly said. Ashi turned back to him to see him opening a drawer in his table and pulled something out.

"I'm sorry. I almost forgot about these," he said extending his hands to her.

Ashi recognized a golden comb and ornaments made to look like flowers of the same material; things that she had been wearing in her hair when she faded. She couldn't help feeling surprised. She could vaguely recall her hair still being pinned back when she fought Aku but she hadn't thought that it was because she still had these.

"I had to take them out of your hair to examine your skull," the Woolie explained. "The old dog who helped me told me they were gold and said that we should hide them in case someone tried to steal them."

Slowly, Ashi took them and held them in her hands. After a moment of silence, she finally faced him again.

"Thank you for keeping these safe," she said. The Woolie could hear the sadness in her voice.

"I'm sorry about your wedding day."

* * *

As Ashi bid the Woolies goodbye, she was approached by one of the giant red-haired women who wore her hair in a pair of braids.

"Hello, Ashi," she said. "I'm Flora. My sisters elected me to invite you to have supper with us tonight, if you'd be interested in joining?"

Ashi accepted and was surprised to discover that night that all of the women in the red-haired group were sisters; daughters to the same man and woman. The man, she learned was none other that the ghost who appeared in the tent with the leaders.

The women then drank together and talked happily. Ashi couldn't help noticing their blue specter of a parent lurking in a corner and who was seemingly glaring at her.

Thinking it best not to approach him by herself (as she heard all kinds of stories of ghosts being terrible amongst Jack's people) she stuck to the ladies around their campfire.

Flora offered a toast and the women raised their glasses. Ashi was a little confused by the gesture but followed Flora's lead. "To Ashi, for continuing our hope! And to Samurai Jack, for giving us that hope in the first place!"

Ashi couldn't help think of her lost love. "You all seem to think so highly of him," she out loud, more to herself than anyone.

Thinking that she was talking to her, Flora replied, "Well, we kinda owe him our lives. If he hadn't helped our Dad rescue our Mum all those years ago, none of us would be here. He's always been something of a personal hero to our family. Of course, that's not to say any of us would want to marry him or something like that."

"I said I was sorry for offering!" the ghost exclaimed.

Flora turned her head to glare at him. "Dad," she started. "Not to us. To her." she said, pointing to Ashi.

Ashi was taken aback. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, sorry. So many people asked us what our fight from the last few nights ago was about. We thought you'd heard," Flora stated.

"Our Dad offered to let the Samurai marry one of us without running it by us first," Ilana told her. Ashi couldn't help raising her eyebrows at this.

"We already cussed him out about it," Isla said. "But we agreed that he should apologize to you, too."

Ashi turned to the Scotsman, not being sure what to say about this. "You… must thought highly of him to offer one of your daughters to him like that."

"Well, I thought it obvious I wouldn't have let him have whoever he picked if the lass was unwilling!" he stated. "I may be an old daft loon, but I'm not the type to make me own flesh and blood marry against their will! That's just monstrous!"

"Right," Ashi said. "So… what I'm hearing is that this was more of an… extension of a blessing if he was interested?"

"Aye," he agreed. "It's just as well he turned me down anyway, as all of me dear heather blossoms seem to not want to hear of the idea." Ashi noticed some of the daughters nodding their heads.

"And it seems to be that he apparently likes 'em on the wee and skinny side," he added, pointing to her.

Ashi wasn't sure if he was trying to insult her or not. She simply shrugged and replied, "Yeah, well, you know, trying to get taller didn't work out for me and I think bulking up at my size would just slow me down. So, I guess I'm just stuck being freakishly tiny."

The specter went wide eyed at her statement, and let out a thunderous laugh. Ashi couldn't help laughing along with him. Some of the daughters couldn't help laughing with them.

"I think I owe ye a pair of apologies, Lassie," he said, coming down from his laughter. "Jack was a close friend to me. I couldn't help being more than just a wee bit suspicious of ye."

Ashi sighed. "You're not the only one who was looking at me like I was insane. So, how is it that you know Jack?" she asked him.

"Many years ago, back in me prime, the two of us met and crossed swords on a bridge. By the moors, that was a fight! Our duel lasted for two days and nights! It may have gone for longer, had this group of bounty hunters not tried their hand at capturing the both of us."

"Back when I was alive, I was a wanted man on four continents! I was outright shocked to discover why Aku wanted him dead! We wound up fighting the bounty hunters off together and became friends after wards."

The two of them laughed and talked more of their adventures with Jack. Just as the Scotsman was beginning his tale of how Jack had helped him rescue his beloved wife, they saw a red haired woman bounding towards them on an elk that Ashi couldn't recognize as being one of the daughters that had been in the encampment with them. She looked to the Scotsman for an explanation, only to find his features morphed into fear as the woman stopped in front of them.

"Heather? What are you doing here?" he said, concerned.

"Celtic Demons are attacking the Castle!" she exclaimed, out of breath. "The other's are fending them off but they need help! There's too many of them!"

The Scotsman raised his voice, shouting for his other daughters to get to their elks immediately. He then pulled a strange bag with pipes sticking out of it that Ashi didn't recognize as if from nowhere.

"Sorry to run off on ye, Lassie," he said to her. "But this is family emergency."

"Can I do anything to help?" she asked.

Flora rode up to them and stopped, extending her hand to her.

"We'd be honored if you'd fight with us," she told her. Ashi took her hand and jumped on the back of the elk.

* * *

Amaterasu listened to all that Mamitu told her.

"So, that's what became of her," she said, sadly. "He's mourning her like a widower, and she's trapped in the other time."

"Part of their fate is to stay together, but again, we would not interfere without your consent."

The Sun Goddess was silent as she thought over everything that the Fate Goddess had revealed to her. She was silent for so long, Mamitu began to fear that their plea was in vain.

"Mamitu," she finally spoke. "I shall allow you to intervene, on one condition. I want to have say in what becomes of them."

Amaterasu stood and extended her hand to her. "Will you agree to this?"

Mamitu looked to the other Gods. "What do you all think of this?"

Lachesis spoke first: "I'm fine with it." This was followed by a comments in a general agreement.

Mamitu smiled, turned back to Amaterasu, and placed her hand in hers.

"We agree."

* * *

Mountainous hoards of destroyed red robots surrounded the outskirts of the Clan Castle and many red haired daughters now surrounded Ashi, thanking her for helping end their battle so quickly. Even their ghostly father let out a laugh.

"I'll admit it, ye be handy in a battle, Lassie," he told her. He then tried to pat her on the back only to have his hand phase through her body. "Bugger all. I keep forgetting about that."

"Would you be interested in staying for supper?" Ilsa happily offered. "It's the least we could do to thank you."

That night, Ashi happily dined with her new found friends and laughed as the Scotsman finished his tale of when Jack helped him rescue his wife and had to outrun her when he accidentally insulted her.

As everyone began going to bed, Ashi said goodbye and began to leave.

"Ye be leaving already?" The ghostly Scotsman asked her.

"Aku's still out there," she answered him. "I won't be able to rest easily until he's no more, and I still have questions with no answers."

"Aye, no denying that," he said, reluctantly agreeing with her. Ashi began to turn to leave when the Scotsman spoke again.

"Listen, Lassie. You need anything, you come back here and just ask. A meal. A place to rest. It don't matter. We'll be happy to help ye."

She was surprised by his offer, but Ashi smiled and bowed her head.

"Thank you."

* * *

Ashi slept up in a tree that night. In the morning, her mind mulled over everything that had happened in such a short time. She couldn't helping thinking of Jack and what he would think of all this. She knew that he would feel horrible knowing that the future he tried to undo was still here, but she knew he would want to know. It was likely that he thought her dead. She thought at the very least, she could let him know she was alright.

On the other hand, the dog and the tall, thin, green man had made it sound like creating another portal would lead her into a third timeline. What if she got lost in world where he hadn't existed?

After debating with herself for sometime, she resolved to at least try.

She then concentrated on remembering what she had done to generate a time portal. She then opened her mouth and screeched.

But nothing happened.

Confused, and praying the she had done it wrong, she tried again, only to be greeted with the same result.

After some time, Ashi had to accept that she wasn't doing more than just hurting her voice. Not being sure what else to do, she decided to start walking.

* * *

The other Gods guided Amaterasu back to their space overlooking the now two mortal realms and watched Ashi's actions in confusion.

"Is she trying to create another time portal?" she asked Mamitu.

"It seems so," she answered. "If it were so simple, we wouldn't need to intervene."

The Sun Goddess began to ask, "Why can't she-?"

"It takes so much energy to create a time portal. If it were possible for her to live to 5000 years, she might be able to create another one, but we don't have the luxury of that much time."

"Then, how do we fix this?" Amaterasu asked. "I know that there are still time portals in the Realm my descendant is in."

"Forgive me, Amaterasu," Atropos, one of Lachesis' sisters, interrupted. "But that will not work. A time portal in the second realm would take him to the future, but it would be that world's future, freed from Aku. We would need something that could move him through time and space to get him in the same realm as the Daughter."

Chronos interjected, "How are we supposed to do that? Even if we used an existing time portal, adjusting it to jump to another world would take well over the lifetime of an average mortal."

Another God, Purysho, said exasperated, "This whole thing is a disaster! Honestly, it would be easier to just get the Samurai in our realm and push him into the other mortal realm from here."

Everyone went silent at the suggestion. Clotho, Lachesis' other sister, spoke quickly to Chronos asking, "Could we do that?"

Chronos could only be silent for a moment. "It does seem the simplest solution."

Purysho looked upon them flabbergasted that they would take his suggestion seriously. "Surely none of you are planning to act so directly."

"No, that works!" Mamitu said happily. "She can't exist in the other realm and it's part of their fate to stay together, so getting him back in the first realm is -"

"I will not hear of such a thing," Amaterasu exclaimed. The Time Gods looked to her in surprise.

"That world was a hell for him and I will not allow him to end his days in it," she explained in anger.

Mamitu spoke calmly, "I am sorry, but we do not have another path. Without a way to anchor the Daughter to the other Realm, there isn't another way to keep the fates written for them."

"Then, I will create something for her," Amaterasu stated. The Time Gods looked at her in silence.

"This… wouldn't be something simple," Chronos told her. "Her very soul is tied to something that can't exist in that realm. We're talking about reforging a mortal's soul. That… that would kill her. You would need someway to restore her life or grant some kind of rebirth to her afterward. Do you have such powers?"

Amaterasu sighed and placed her fingers to her forehead. "No," she said softly.

"I'm sorry, I know you don't want to hear this," he told her. "But perhaps -"

"Wait a minute!" Atropos exclaimed. "I know someone in our Pantheon that could help us do that!"

While the Moirai began to explain herself, one Goddess of the Baltic Pantheon, Laima, felt something strange stirring.

Something she hadn't been expecting.

She looked down into the realm in alarm to confirm and let out a gasp.

The other Gods looked to her in surprise. Her sisters, Kārta and Dēkla stepped forward.

"What's wrong?" they asked her.

Laima turned around and walked over to Mamitu.

"I don't wish to alarm anyone, but someone who can create a time portal will be coming into existence soon in the first realm."

Mamitu looked to her in confusion as the Norns and the Moirai rushed to look upon the mortal realms.

"What do you mean? Who?"


	7. Chapter 6

A few weeks had passed when Ilsa and Ilana discovered Ashi in the mountains, exhausted and trying to make her way back to them.

Once they discovered that she had been suffering from some strange illness she didn't know, Ilana guided her the rest of the way to their home as Isla rode off to get their Doctor.

The daughters waited anxiously as the Doctor examined Ashi in a private room of the castle.

"I-It's probably nothing," Maeve said, more thinking out loud to herself than anything. "She probably just caught a bad cold or something."

The Doctor then exited the room and headed for the front door. The Scotsman hovered forward to stop him.

"What's wrong with her? Is it contagious?" he asked, worried.

The Doctor merely glanced over to him and answered, "That's not how being pregnant works. Have a nice night." And with that, he left.

The Scotsman, usually always having something to say, found himself dumb-stricken. He looked to his daughters, who looked just as surprised as he did, and then hovered slowly to the room the Doctor had come from.

As he neared the open door, he saw Ashi sitting alone with her hand at her stomach, staring at the floor as if she were a thousand miles away.

"Lassie?" he asked, approaching her. He spotted Flora and Ilsa poking their heads through the doorway.

"The Doctor told us what's happening. Honestly, I should have known when ye mentioned your illness was worse in the mornings," he chastised himself. "Uh… am I… correcting in assuming that Jack is the father?"

Ashi lifted her head slowly to look at him.

"I've never been with anyone else," she said softly.

"Aye," he replied. "What are ye planning to do with it?"

Ashi looked back to the floor with tears in her eyes.

"I don't know," she said, wiping away tears. "Oh, God. I don't know."

As Ashi wept, Flora and Ilsa entered the room, sitting down on both sides of her. Ashi willed herself into calming down.

"I don't want to kill it," she said through tears. "But I don't know how to take care of it."

"And even if I do keep it," she continued. "I don't know how I'm going to keep it safe. I don't know what I'm going to do if Aku finds out about it. I can't deal with the thought of him using my child. I still have nightmares about when he controlled me. I can't stand the idea of him doing that to someone else. I-"

Ashi stopped, feeling someone cover one of her hands with theirs.

"Move in with us," Flora said.

"What?" Ashi said looking at her in surprise.

"Live here with us. We'll help you keep your baby safe," Flora continued.

"Are- are you serious?" Ashi asked.

"Aye," Ilsa agreed, patting her back. "We've got plenty of space here, you wouldn't be putting any one out."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course, we're sure," Flora exclaimed. She suddenly turned to the ghost. "It's fine, right, Dad?"

"I got no problems with it," the Scotsman agreed. "We already got thirty-five amongst the living here. Another two won't make much of a difference."

* * *

The rain poured outside as thunder rolled through the sky. Ashi held her beloved daughter in her arms, wrapping them both up in a thick blanket, and concluding a story she learned long before she was born.

"Mama?" The small child asked. "Did Kaguya want to go back to the Moon?"

She thought for a moment before answering with a question, "What do you think she wanted to do, Kiko?"

"I think she wanted someone to help her. She could have given the Emperor a test like she did with the others who wanted to marry her but she told him the truth. I don't think she wanted to go back."

"I think so, too, sweetie," Ashi agreed with her.

Lightning flashed and Kiko buried herself under the blanket. Ashi just held her close until she was ready to poke her head back out.

"Honestly, I've seen you face down people five times your size," she commented. "I don't know why lightning scares you so much."

"The sky's not supposed to flash like that! It's freaky!" the girl explained. Ashi nodded her head and let her hide again as another flash struck.

"Well, the storm's not going away yet," Ashi sighed. "I can tell you one more story."

Kiko was silent for a moment.

"Can you tell me the one about the boy who was in the big peach again?" she finally asked, sticking her head back out.

"Alright," Ashi agreed. Kiko snuggled into her mother as she began.

" _Once there was kind, old woman who lived with her husband. While they longed for a child for many years, they found that they could not have one._

 _One day, as the woman was washing clothes, she discovered a massive peach floating in the river. She took it home to show her husband and they agreed to try to eat it. As the husband began to cut it open, the peach suddenly split open and they found a baby boy inside._

 _They decided to raise the child as theirs and named him Momotaro. As he grew up, they discovered that he was unusually strong._

 _When Momotaro became an adult, a massive band of Oni had begun terrorizing the country, kidnapping people and taking things that didn't belong to them back to their home on Oni Island._

 _Momotaro promised to defeat the Oni and rescue everyone that had been taken. On his way to the island, he befriended a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant, who all vowed to help him save everyone._

 _They sailed in secret to the Island and sneaked inside the fortress of the Oni. A great battle ensued and continued until only the leader of the Oni was left. He knew that he had been beaten and bowed to them in surrender._

 _He then released everyone who had been kidnapped and returned everything the band of Oni had stolen. Momotaro and his companions sailed home, content in their victory."_

Ashi wound up telling a few more stories that night before the lightning died off.

"Alright, Kiko," Ashi told her. "The Lightning is gone. It's time to say good night to Papa."

Kiko had been rightly confused when her mother first showed her what was once part of a wanted poster. However, once her mother had explained that these were the only pictures any one could find of her father, she didn't have much reason to question it.

Her mother had assured her that the man it showed was one of the kindest and the most compassionate person she had ever known, despite the world famous scowl the portrait depicted. She knew the reason behind the wanted poster was that Aku didn't like him. Her adopted relatives had assured her that was a good thing.

At first, their ritual was to just say good night to the image. Some time later, Kiko had caught her mother kissing her fingertips and pressing them to it. The girl had surprised her the following night by mimicking the action, and it became part of the good night routine.

Tonight, however, as Kiko looked at the image, she found herself with only one question on her curious mind.

"Mama?" Kiko asked. "Where's Papa? Will I ever get to meet him?"

Ashi looked down to Kiko's face. Her straight nose. Her jawline. Her kind eyes. There wasn't anything in her features that didn't resemble him.

There was a long silence before Ashi could bring herself to be honest with her.

"I don't know."

* * *

Jack watched Ashi walk slowly and gracefully towards the alter of the Shinto Temple where he waited for her.

He couldn't believe his lifelong quest was finally over, and once Ashi had agreed to become his wife, he couldn't wait to begin this new life with her. Part of him felt like he should be taking in everything around them, but all he could see was his beautiful bride smiling back at him.

As she neared the halfway point, her smile vanished. Jack felt like his heart had stopped as he watched her fall to the ground. He was vaguely aware of voices of concern as he rushed over to her.

He helped her sit upright, feeling a strange frailty in her.

"Ashi?" he asked worried. She opened her eyes, mirroring what he thought his expression must be.

"Jack," she said weakly.

"What's wrong?"

"Without Aku, I never would have existed," she explained, placing her hand to his cheek.

He could utter one word in disbelief: "No."

He was helpless as he watched her vanish, feeling her weight disappear and the only thing that was left in his hands was her wedding robe.

"Ashi."

* * *

Their wedding day had become Ashi's funeral, and the entire world seemed cold and gray to him without her presence in it.

There were many days that followed since where he rode out from his father's palace. Upon one such day, he came to rest under a tree, curling himself into a ball and wishing that he had found another way.

He felt something touch his hand. Something light. He opened his eyes and saw a ladybug on him.

As he looked closer at it, he couldn't help thinking of the last time he had really observed one.

He and Ashi had been in the middle of an ocean, back when she was still upholding the belief that Aku was the true ruler of the world. She had seen him being gentle with the small creatures and dropped her weapon. That was when she began to ask him for the truth.

It had seemed strange to him at the time, but now he realized that the moment was when she had begun to realize her family's deceit.

Her family.

 _She's been freed from them, hasn't she?_ He thought.

 _She's free from him._

It was the first happy thought he'd really had in a while. He couldn't help letting a small smile come to his face.

Jack stood and raised his hand up, allowing the ladybug to fly away into the sky. For the first time in a long time, he really looked at the world around him. The gentle slopes of the hills in front of him. The height of the mountains in the distance. The blossoming trees covering them both; and the sunlight illuminating all of it.

As he took in the beautiful scenery of nature for the first time in what felt like a very long time, he heard a strange sound above his head. It was a sound that hit some memory he couldn't identify.

He turned around quickly and saw something he didn't think he'd see again. A ring in the middle of the air, radiating with black and white circles inside of it. He knew it all too well. It was a time portal.

Before he could even begin to question it's presence, he watched something black and small fall from it as it closed up as if it were never there.

Whatever had come out of the portal landed in the tree with a thud and the branches bowed with the sudden weight. Jack might have dashed back to his horse and gotten his sword ready, had whatever landed there not also made a sound that sounded very much like a child saying the word, "Ouch."

Without really thinking about what he was doing, he climbed up the tree to find whatever had fallen from the time portal.

As he pushed leaves out of his way, he discovered the small black figure laying sprawled over the branches, kicking around as if trying to get unstuck.

"Are you alright?" he asked whatever it was. Another noise escaped from it. Still the voice of a child, this time as if it was scared.

"Who are you?" the voice said. "Where am I? What happened to my Mama and Aku?!"

 _Aku?_ He wondered.

"Where did you come from?" he asked, pulling the black clad figure up from where it was stuck. He quickly realized that the figure, and the reason it sounded like a child, was because it was one.

A girl. Judging from her size, she couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old at most. She was strange for him to look upon. Not that she had odd features, no. Something about the straightness of her nose. That jawline. Those wide, curious eyes staring back at him with the same bewilderment.

And her short, dark hair. There was something about the way it all seemed to sweep to one side of her face.

He felt something inside his head trying to click. He knew this child somehow, yet he knew he'd never seen her before.

The time portal. She mentioned Aku. Her mother.

 _No. It couldn't be._

Was the idea even possible?

Before he could even start to ask, she said something that in the back of his mind, he knew was true. After all, how could he not have recognized his own features in a miniature form or hair that looked near exactly like the way his lost love had kept her hair when it was short?

"Papa?"

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry to stop it here but I need to take a break from writing this fic for right now. Part of the reason I've been able to update the chapters so quickly is because I've been working from an outline and I've had everything up to this point mapped out. Part of my need for a break is so I can map out the next part of the story, and maybe work on some of my other stories, so I don't get burnt out on this. (Right now, I would say that this is somewhere between the 25-33% done point.)_

 _Thank you for reading and I'll get back to updating as soon as I can._


	8. Chapter 7

"I do not wish to alarm anyone, but someone who can create a time portal will be coming into existence very soon in the first realm," Laima stated.

Mamitu looked to her in confusion as the Norns and the Moirai rushed to look upon the mortal realms.

"What do you mean?" she questioned. "Who?"

"The Daughter is with child," Laima explained.

The reactions to this news varied from raised eyebrows to verbal exclamations. Most however, made a dash to the overlook to see for themselves.

"This could complicate things," Chronos stated.

"Or simplify them," Mamitu said, half arguing.

"In what sense?" Amaterasu questioned.

"If the Child were to create another time portal to the past, it would create a third realm," Chronos said.

"If we left the ability untampered," Mamitu added. "The Child's blood connection presents an interesting possibility to create something that can bridge the realms."

"Doesn't seem to do us much good," Lachesis said. "As things are right now, the only thing creating that bridge would do is get the Child to the Samurai. It wouldn't able to stay in the realm with him and it wouldn't be able to take him with it when it fades back to the other realm."

Amaterasu was silent for a moment. "What little good it could do would still be doing us good."

"I did intend to send visions of the First Realm to my descendant, showing him that it's still there and that's where his bride vanished to," she admitted. "If the Child must create it's own portal, perhaps a more direct approach would be better suited to ensure he's informed?"

Mamitu looked from Amaterasu to their overlook, and let a smile come to her face.

"I think we could make that work," she said.

* * *

Ashi watched her daughter running around and playing in the sunlight with her adopted Aunts in a new white dress one of them had made as she rested near the outside wall of the Clan Castle.

"What do ye make of what the Monks said to ye after ye helped them?" The ghostly Scotsman asked, phasing through his castle wall to join her.

"Jack mentioned them once to me," she answered calmly. "He told me about how they had been hidden from Aku's gaze. If I accepted their offer and sent Kiko to live with them, she'd be safe from him and I'd be free to go hunt him down."

"Aye. That she would," he commented. "But we've got our own Celtic Runes protecting us here now. She's just as safe here if not more."

"I know that. I already told them no, remember?" Ashi stated. "I could never just leave Kiko somewhere, even under those circumstances. It feels too much like abandonment."

"Honestly, I'd be haunting ye, if ye had," the specter told her. "I don't know if you've noticed but I've gotten a bit attached to the both of ye. I think of Kiko as though she were me own grandchild. I wouldn't forgive ye if ye'd go and do something like that."

Ashi smiled at him, knowing from word of mouth how he would try to spoil her when she wasn't around.

"I wouldn't forgive me, either," she agreed.

"Mama! Uncle Ghost!"

The two of them looked forward to see Kiko running towards them with her hands clasped in front of her as though she were holding something.

"What have ye got, wee lassie?" the ghost asked her.

"I caught one of those funny bugs Mama likes," she said happily as she neared. She finally opened her hands, only to have something fly away into the air. Kiko moved around looking upwards as she tried to track the insect.

Ashi felt something on the back of her hand and looked to see a ladybug crawling on her hand.

"Kiko," she said with a smile. "Your companion is on me."

The child immediately looked down and smiled as her mother showed her hand to her.

Kiko sat in her lap and held her mother's fingers so as not to harm or scare off the creature.

"Mr. Ladybug, why'd you run off like that?" Kiko fussed at him. "What would you do if a frog had found you?"

At that moment, a roll of thunder was heard across the moors. Kiko suddenly looked to the sky worried.

"Methinks it's time to get inside," the Scotsman said, going back through the wall.

"Say goodbye to Mr. Ladybug," Ashi told her.

"Oh, okay," Kiko said disappointed. "Good bye, Mr. Ladybug. We can't take you inside because you'll scare Auntie Ilana and I'll get grounded again. Try to stay somewhere dry."

Ashi brought her hand closer to her face and blew gently on the bug, prompting the insect to fly away.

"Come on, sweetie," she said, getting up and carrying her inside. "Time to have story-time under the blankets again."

* * *

When Aku had felt her strike, he had hissed in pain and threw her out of his grasp.

He had transformed himself into a bird, and flew away, swearing that she would die when they met again.

Exhausted and berating himself for underestimating someone who was only half demon, he had found some hidden place in the world humans couldn't reach. He had known other demons potentially had the power to kill him, but he had spent so many centuries as the most powerful thing on the Earth, the idea had become ridiculous to him.

It had to have been at least a millennia since something or someone had caused him an injury this deep. He knew the only thing for it now was allowing himself to sleep. He closed his eyes and swore to make his traitor daughter pay for her actions once he awakened.

He did not know how long it had been since he had first closed his eyes. The first thing he did was make sure there was no sign of the wound. Then, he rebuilt his dark tower, making sure every black spire and red flame was in what he deemed was it's correct place.

"Now then," he said, speaking to himself and waving a hand over one of the walls. "Show me the girl."

The flames shifted to form a circle. An image tried to present itself but all it produced was something of a static fuzz.

At first, he feared his powers had lessened, but as he tested it to show him the rest of his world, and other specific people, he began to fear that her powers had grown. That she had found a way to block his sight.

He summoned his best and most loyal spies to appear before him. They had fallen to their knees and tried to pay respects to him, but he had been weary of the gestures and told them to just tell him what had become of his traitor-daughter after their fight.

He learned most of the Samurai's supporters' actions and that she had last been seen in Scotland.

He told them to wait and began combing through the locations on his screen, until he encountered the static again.

He told the spies to go there and discover why he could not see what was there.

Many weeks passed and only one of the spies returned to him. His best, who was now seemingly missing an arm and an eye.

"I beg you to forgive us having to make you wait, My Lord," they said. "The information you sought came at a high price for us."

"She was hiding behind magic rune stones. We managed to find one and destroy it. Your Daugh- the Traitor is still a powerful opponent. When she discovered our purpose, she made sure to ensure our silence. Had I not been mostly robotic, I would have died with the others."

"She did not seem to be aware of the destroyed rune. You should be able to see that location now," the Spy finished.

Aku glared at them, as if wondering to fry them alive for daring to return with information they weren't sure of. Instead, he turned back to his wall of flames and commanded it to show him the girl once more.

He saw her; older with a few more scars. His sadistic side couldn't help smiling as he saw the scar he'd given her on her arm. She was resting near some half ruined castle.

He began tapping his fingers, trying to determine what foul thing he should send her way.

Then someone else came into view: a small girl. Judging from her size she couldn't be older than eight. As he began to recognize parts of her features, his tapping ceased. As he watched his traitor daughter take the child in her arms, his awful, sadistic smile returned.

"Oh, this," he said. "This will get interesting."


	9. Chapter 8

Ashi and Kiko walked together along the shore of the lake near the Clan Castle in the afternoon light. They often went out on small nature walks together, but this time Kiko seemed unusually quiet to her mother.

"Kiko?" she asked her. "Do you have something you want to tell me?"

"I was thinking about what the monks told you," Kiko said softly after a moment.

"Were you?" she asked.

"Yeah. I wouldn't like it, but… everyone makes if sound like you're the only one that can stop Aku, and… you're staying here because of me, so..." she began to tear up. "If you need to, you can send me to live with them, but-"

"Kiko, no!" Ashi exclaimed, getting on her knees. "I could never send you away! Don't even think that."

"You mean it?" the girl sniffed.

"Of course, I do," she stated, wiping away her tears. "The Monks offered to do that because they're hidden from Aku's gaze, but you're just as hidden here. So, there's no need to send you away with them."

"OK, but..." Kiko continued, her mood now improved slightly. "You're still going to have to go after him, right?"

"One day," Ashi answered. "But no one knows where he is yet. I can't go after him until we know."

"What will happen to me when you need to go?" the child asked.

"You'll be staying here with your Uncle and your Aunties. They'll keep you safe."

"OK, but… you're going to come back after you're done beating him up, right?" she asked.

"Of course, I'll come back, sweetie," Ashi told her, holding her hands. "And once this is all over, I'll be able to take you wherever you want to go."

Kiko smiled and wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders.

"I love you, Mama," the girl whispered to her. Ashi wrapped her arms around her and whispered back to her, "I love you, too, Kiko."

"What a sweet gesture," a deep, growling voice said. Kiko suddenly felt her mother holding her tighter. She tried to turn her head to look to where the voice came from, only to have her mother stand and pull her behind her.

Kiko peeked from behind behind her mother and saw only a black mass. She began to look upwards to her mother for some kind of explanation, but then she saw the rest of it, becoming terrified at the sight of him.

Arms connecting to horrible clawed fingers. A sickly green face with eyes of flame. Six horns coming from out of his head.

 _Aku._

"You neglected to mention you'd given me a granddaughter," he said.

"Kiko," Ashi said firmly. "Run." The child watched as her mother's arms transformed into long black blades as she charged towards him.

She wanted to do as her mother said, yet she could not move. She suddenly felt her body fly forward, and the next thing she knew, she was in the way of her mother's blades with her arms out to her sides.

Kiko let out as gasp as she saw her mother begin to strike, only to see her stop before a blow was landed.

"What a sweet child," Aku said. "You won't let that mean lady hurt your grandfather, will you?"

Kiko tried desperately to move her body out of the way, only to find herself between her mother and Aku whenever her mother tried to strike.

"Mama! I'm not doing this!" Kiko told her, frightened at what was happening.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aku stated. "I almost forgot about your present. It's important to look your best, after all."

Kiko watched her mother's eyes grow wide in horror as she looked back at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Kiko watched as a strange pitch black layer take over her skin.

"NO!" her mother screamed, falling to her knees and trying to tear away the black.

Kiko felt as though her inside were being taken out and replaced with nothing as the black spread across her body.

"Mama!" she cried in fear. "What's happening?!"

"Aku is trying to take control of you!" she stated in a panic. "You have to fight it!"

"Mama, I'm scared!"

Ashi watched in terror at the black began to spread to her face. Thinking quickly, Ashi covered the two of them in a ball of black mass.

* * *

Ashi opened her eyes to a massive room of white being taken over by a black flood. She ran around, looking for her daughter and calling her name. She heard a gasp for air and ran towards it, seeing Kiko being pulled into the black.

"MAMA!" the girl screamed, grabbing her mother's hand as she come forward.

"I'm here, Kiko," Ashi told her, trying to pull her away from the blackness. "I'm here, but you have to fight it, too!"

"I'm trying," Kiko said through tears. "I'm not strong like you are."

"Yes, you are, Kiko," she told her, continuing to try to pull her out. "You are so much stronger than you know!" The girl looked to her in surprise.

"That power I have… The one that makes everyone think I can kill Aku; you have that power too! You have so much love in your heart and there are so many others who care about you, too! He will never take that from you! Never forget that!"

After a moment, Kiko clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut. Ashi watched in alarm as more of the black overtook her.

* * *

Ashi felt herself thrown away from the black mass, hitting the ground and knocking the wind out of her.

She looked back to see Kiko, covered in black from her head to her feet.

She then placed her fists at the sides of her head as if grabbing her hair. She pulled at it, ripping it open and screaming from the pain. However, as soon as she would tear part of it off, it would continue to recover her as if she had done nothing.

Aku watched in amusement as the child tried to tear away at the black magic that attempted to recover her.

"Your struggle is pointless," he stated. "Accept your place at my side."

Kiko felt something strange strike her mind, as if some great secret was just made known to her without a single word being uttered.

Something that was telling her to think only of her father. And that same something was telling her to scream now.

Without a second thought, Kiko looked up to the sky and let a strange screech escape from her throat.

Ashi and Aku looked on in surprise as she was enveloped in a white light they both knew too well. He stretched his arms out as Ashi made a mad dash towards her. The light vanished before she could make it and she felt the wind knocked out of her as Aku swatted her away.

"It makes no difference where your foolish child goes," he laughed. "She'll be right back here within moments."

* * *

As Kiko saw her world become white, she suddenly felt herself falling.

She dared herself to open her eyes as she felt Aku's control over her fade away, and she found herself surrounded by a strange back and white world. She looked at what felt like down and saw what seemed to be circles flying upwards towards her.

Part of her was afraid of what would happen when her fall would end. She wondered if she would die, but she seemed to fall for a very long time. At the same time, it seemed like no time was passing at all.

As she began to wonder if she'd spend the rest of her life there, she suddenly saw something contrast all of the black and white she had been trapped in.

Something… pink?

As she came closer, she began to realize the pink was part of some kind of plant.

Before she could register anything else, the black and white world around her ended, and she felt the wind knocked out of her and she landed in what ever the pink thing was, letting out a sound of discomfort from the landing.

She looked around and realized the pink plant thing was holding her above the ground. She looked upon her landing place and realized she had landed in a tree with pink blossoms and leaves in it. She began trying to kick herself up.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked, surprising her. She let out a short scream and tightened her grip on her branch.

"Who are you?!" she demanded. "Where am I? What happened to my Mama and Aku?"

"Where did you come from?" the voice said again after a moment. Kiko felt a hand at her arm, lifting her upwards to sit.

She realized that the voice was coming from a man who was in the tree with her. He had long, black hair and was wearing a strange white robe that seemed familiar to her.

Come to think of it, he was very familiar to her, but she wasn't quite sure how. She studied his features. His long face and straight nose, along with his eyes looking at her in the same curiosity. If she could only imagine him with a scowl and his hair pulled back, she would swear that he looked just like the pictures of-

"Papa?"

* * *

The girl's statement sent his mind reeling and he could only bring himself to utter a single word.

"What?"

"You- you're Samurai Jack!" the girl exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "You look just like the wanted poster Mama showed me! You have to go back with me! Mama told me she barely survived the last time she fought him! She's been training to get better but she's gonna need your help!"

"She... _what_?!" he stated, confused.

"It's okay! I'll just do what I did before! We'll be back there in no time," she explained, taking hold of his hand.

The Child then turned her head upwards and shrieked. Jack winced at the noise. She gained a confused look when nothing happened after a few moments. She let out another shriek.

"It's not working," she said quietly. "I can't make another one."

The girl began to panic.

"My mama could be dead and we can't help her!" she stated.

"Little One?"

"Oh, my God! Are we dead?!" she exclaimed with tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

"Little One!" Jack raised his voice, placing his hands on her shoulders and making her face him.

"Please," he said calmly. "I can't help you or your mother if I don't know what's going on. I'm not even sure who you are?"

"What?" the child said in surprise. "How do you not know-"

"No, wait," she said with disappointment in her voice. "Mama said that the two of you got separated before I was born. She told me all about you, but I guess it doesn't make sense for you to know about me, does it?"

Jack watched her, pondering what to say.

"Little One," he finally began after a moment. "You already know my name. Would you please tell me yours?"

"I'm Kiko," she said, wiping tears off her face with her hand.

"Well, Kiko," he told her with a smile. "Can you please tell me how you came to enter a time portal?"

"A what?" Kiko asked, confused.

"From where I stood, you came out of one," he tried to explain.

"Wait, do you mean that weird place with the black and white rings that feels like you're falling for hours?" she questioned after a moment. "Is that what that was?"

"Yes," he told her. (He wasn't quite sure how she wouldn't know that, but decided not to question it yet.) "How did you find that?"

"Um… well, I thought I made it," Kiko told him. "But I can't make another one now. Maybe I can only do it if I'm in trouble?"

"You mentioned your mother was fighting Aku," Jack brought up. "What exactly happened?"

Kiko took a deep breath and told him everything that had happened to her that day. Jack took in everything she said. All the clues were there, but he needed to know for certain. He needed to hear it.

"Aku said he was your grandfather?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"And… your mother told you that I'm your father?"

"Yes."

Jack paused for a moment.

"Please," he started, daring to hope for something that he thought had been impossible. "Your mother… what is her name?"

"Ashi," she confirmed.

Jack wasn't sure if his heart had stopped, or if it was beating for the first time since the wedding.

 _She's alive._

The thought brought him to tears.

 _Ashi lives._

He took Kiko in his arms and jumped out of the tree, prompting a squeak escaping from the child.

"She's alive!" he said happily, holding the child close to him. "My Ashi is alive!"

"Papa! Let go!" Kiko said. "You're squishing me!"

* * *

The Time Gods watched as the child struggled in the darkness.

"I've seen enough," Amaterasu shouted, beginning to move closer to the overlook. "I'm going down there."

"Fear not for the Child," Mamitu said calmly, placing a hand to the Sun Goddess's shoulder. "This is a piece of her destiny. She will know what to do."

As the fight continued, the Gods observed her generating a time portal, and a thread of light stretched forth from the First Realm. It fluttered there for a few seconds. When it did nothing else, the Gods began to fear their machinations had been for naught.

Then, it extended forth and latched itself into the Second Realm, and the Gods watched as a small girl seemed to fly through it. They had known exactly which point she would go to. As time flowed in the First Realm, they had stopped it's flow in the other, saving themselves from the headache of a third realm.

But now the child was where they needed her, so they allowed the time to flow once more there as they made moves to cease the flow in the first.

Some of them wanted to curse a certain trio for causing the need to fix this, but there was no time for that now. They had work to do.

Amaterasu knew this. And she knew her own plans needed to move forth.

* * *

 _Author's Note: I went back in and edited a few grammar mistakes I noticed. I also edited out the part where Jack basically deadpans out that Kiko is a bastard._

 _I have a couple of reasons for this. One, my buddy Techno pointed out that it seemed like Jack was rejecting Kiko, which really wasn't my intention for that moment (it was supposed to be like the thought just hit him and he was thinking out-loud, it wasn't meant to be negative.) And two, part of the plan for Chapter 9 was going to start with Jack apologizing to Kiko for offending her, but I started having other ideas on how to handle addressing Kiko being born out of wedlock._

 _So, yeah, that moment is gone now._


	10. Chapter 9

Once Kiko had made her objections to being squished in an embrace, Jack set her down on her feet.

"My apologies, Little One," he said, wiping away happy tears. "I don't think you know what a relief this is."

"Mama told me once that she thinks that you think she's dead," she told him after a moment. "I guess she wasn't wrong."

"I still have so many questions. You said that Aku is alive in the time you're from but he's dead in this time. I vanquished him myself. How is he alive in your time?" he asked.

"I don't really know," Kiko confessed. "Mama said she was really confused when she went back. She said that someone told her after her fight with Aku that time traveling doesn't work that way and that it created a different world. She tried to explain it to me but I just got confused."

"A different world?" he repeated.

"Have the two of you been alone this whole time?" he asked after a moment. "Has she been trying to fight him by herself?"

"Oh, no. We haven't been alone," she assured him. "We live with Uncle Ghost and all my Aunties in their castle." Jack raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"Who are Uncle Ghost and your Aunties?" he asked.

"Well, Uncle Ghost is blue and see-through, and he flies around everywhere in a kilt and he has these really cool bagpipes that he can use to attack people and make bridges in the air and he has a machine gun for a leg," he explained excitedly. "And my Aunties are all these big, tall warrior ladies with pretty red hair. I know that they aren't really related to me or Mama, though. They just let me call them that."

A smile came to Jack's face at her description.

"I think I know who you're talking about," he told her.

"What about you?" she asked him.

"What of me?" he asked after a moment.

"What have you been doing all this time?" she asked. "You didn't go and marry somebody else, did you?" Her question surprised him.

"No," he answered after a moment. "I am supposed to still be in mourning for what happened at our wedding. Even if you hadn't come here, I don't believe I could ever take anyone besides your mother for my wife."

Kiko gained a confused look.

"I thought mourning periods were only supposed to be a year long?" she questioned.

"Our wedding was only three months ago," he stated. A look of shock came to the girl's face.

"Three months?!" she exclaimed. "How has time not passed as quickly here? I'm already seven and a half!"

"Oh... wait," she said, calming herself. "The time portal."

"Yes," Jack said. "And it sounds like we need to find another one quickly."

"How?" she questioned. "We can't go back the way I came and there aren't any time portals left in the world."

"In the time you're from, there aren't any," he corrected her with a smile. "I'm not sure if they exist yet in this time, but I'm certain we could find a way."

Kiko began to smile as well.

"Okay," she said. "Where do we look first, Papa?"

"We need to prepare first," he said. "Something tells me this will be a long journey."

* * *

The Emperor and the Empress walked in their private garden together in one of the few times they were permitted to be alone. Surrounded only by their cultivated nature and basking in the sunlight, and enjoying being in the other's presence once more.

They had worried for seventeen years for their son's safety and prayed for victory, and now they could only pray for his broken heart to mend. Even as they watched him ride away that morning, they knew that nothing they could say would help him. They only thing they could do was give him the time he needed.

It was with this knowledge and mindset that they were surprised to see him approach with a joyful look upon his face.

They watched curiously as he approached them, hand in had with a little girl covered from her neck to her feet in a strange black covering.

He tells them who the child is.

At first, they think it's some kind of joke, but as he continued explaining how they met, their faces could only turn to concern and the only thing they could think about was the relief that he wasn't telling them all this in front of the entire court for fear that he would be pronounced mad and accused of spiriting some poor child away from her family.

And then he tells them where he means to go, and they both know that they're looking at him like he is.

* * *

Mamitu looked down upon the Second Realm, concerned with what she was seeing.

"They don't believe him," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Of course, not," Amaterasu said calmly, looking over from some other part of that realm. "He sounds like he's gone mad with grief to them."

"You aren't concerned?" the Time Goddess questioned, confused by her calmness. "It sounds like his parents aren't going to let him go."

"I think they will," Amaterasu said, her eyes still fixated on something else. "Even if they don't, he would defy them to be reunited with her again."

"Ah, ha! The creature does still have it!" she said suddenly with a victorious grin.

"The creature?" Mamitu asked with concern.

"It's part of my plan," the Sun Goddess assured her. "I'll be having a word with my elder descendent and his wife once they sleep. Best to undo any doubts they have, methinks."

* * *

The Emperor tried to rest that night, but it seemed as if he could not sleep. He could not ignore what had happened earlier or what his son had said.

Time traveling: it was impossible, wasn't it?

He knew firsthand that Aku was capable of some very strange abilities and he was willing to admit the child certainly looked like she belonged in their family.

And he couldn't say he hadn't suspected his son and his lost bride of having at least one indiscretion. He was even willing to openly admit that he and his own wife had been impatient for their wedding, so he could bring himself to begrudge his own son for the idea.

Without really accepting or rejecting the girl, they had allowed her a room for the night, praying to have a better grasp on what was happening in the morning.

He was very much so, lost in his own thoughts, when he heard his wife suddenly gasp. He looked to see what she was staring at.

There, on the other side of the room, stood a woman with incredibly long, jet black hair, wearing a brilliantly white kimono, who seemed to shine with the radiance of the sun itself.

"Who are you?" The Emperor demanded, sitting up.

"I am she who your bloodline began from," she told him. "I come on behalf of my youngest descendent."

Realizing whose presence they were in, the Emperor and the Empress gave a low bow to her.

"The young child your son returned home with today," she began to tell them. "She is what he says."

"Everything that they have said of the woman he lost is true," she continued. "Including the survival of your Enemy in the world the child hails from. I must ask you to let him depart, so that he may complete his quest."

"How, my Lady?" the Empress questioned. "The Sword was destroyed when he slew Aku here. How could he face him again without it?"

"Fear not. Another holy sword will present itself to him very soon," she explained. "This will be one of the three tools that will finally rid all realms of our common Enemy."

The two of them woke with a start, sitting up, and after a moment, looked to each other in need of questioning.

"Amaterasu has spoken to us," he said.

"She did," his wife confirmed. There was only silence between them as what happened and what was said sunk in.

"That girl…" the Emperor began. "She's our-"

"PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU!" they heard someone scream. "WE NEED THE PRINCE'S HELP! THAT MONSTER HAS ALREADY DEVOURED SEVEN OF MY DAUGHTERS AND IT MEANS TO DEVOUR MY LAST!"

"What on Earth-?" the Emperor whispered. He stood and dressed quickly, heading out of his room towards where the shouting came from.


	11. Chapter 10

Kiko had never doubted the stories her mother and uncle had told her of her father. Even as she started to realize that a lost in time prince sounded like it belonged in a fairy tale, she couldn't bring herself to doubt it.

When her mother had tried to explain the palace that they had once planned to live in was like, she could only imagine a bigger version of the castle that they had called home for all her life and despite all the contrasting descriptions her mother had given, nothing could have prepared her for just how different it actually was.

Tall white walls and red tiles decorating the roofs, and it seemed to stretch up into the heavens themselves.

She had known who the Emperor and the Empress were before he had even said anything, and she could feel their eyes upon her even before her father had explained everything to them and they became confused and somehow afraid. Their introduction had become heated the moment he told them he intended to leave to find her mother. They only reluctantly allowed her to stay there with them.

As her father guided her to the room she'd be staying in, she could still feel their eyes on her.

* * *

As Jack led Kiko around the corridors of the palace, he couldn't help feeling the silent tension that the girl seemed to hold.

"I realize that this all must be quite different from your Uncle's home," he said, trying to ease her.

She looked to him and them down at her feet.

"I don't think your mama and papa like me," she said after a moment.

"Your presence here was very unexpected," he explained softly. "I certainly wasn't expecting you. They were just caught off guard. I'm certain that they'll warm up to you in time."

"Do they not like Mama?" she asked. "Or do they not believe me? I'm not really sure I'd believe me."

"From what I saw, they got along splendidly with Ashi," he answered. "At first, everyone seemed at least a little taken aback by the woman in black that returned from Aku's lair with me after it collapsed." Kiko looked to him in curiosity.

"Your mother was of great aid in helping our people restore our kingdom," he continued. "Once they saw the person that she was, what suspicion there was of her vanished. I have little doubt they will come to trust you, as well."

"What happens if they don't?" she asked.

"Their opinions won't sway me, if that's what you're asking, Kiko," he answered, taking her hand in his. "What's important is that I believe you. Do not forget that."

Kiko smiled shyly and squeezed his hand back. He then continued leading her in silence past old past tapestries that had been restored and remade after the palace had been rebuilt.

He suddenly heard Kiko let out a short scream of fright and watched in alarm as she suddenly ran to the other side of him. Seeing nothing that could have caused such a reaction, he asked her what was wrong. The only response he received was her shaking finger pointing to one of the tapestries on the other side of him.

It was a depiction of Aku destroying the palace when he was a boy. Remembering what she had told him of her encounter with him earlier, her reaction made complete sense to him.

"I do not care for that particular tapestry, either," he stated, leading her away from the image, and taking care around the other tapestries that featured the offending character.

After walking past the last one, Jack turned to her.

"I am sorry, Kiko," he apologized to her. "I did not think that the tapestries would upset you."

"It was a lie," she said softly, trying to choke back a sob. "Wasn't it?" Jack looked to her in concern.

"I mean… Aku's not my real grandfather, is he?"

Jack released a sigh and clenched his jaw.

"He is what he told you," he replied solemnly. He watched her eyes grow wide at the statement and her gaze fall to her hands and body, still coated in the strange black covering.

"Are… are me and Mama evil like he is?" she asked.

"Good heavens, NO!" he exclaimed. "Your mother doesn't have an evil bone in her body and neither do you!"

"But… we're related to him and he's a demon, so doesn't that mean-"

"Kiko, stop," Jack said. "Just because you're related to someone, that doesn't mean you have to be anything like them. You are not Aku and neither is your mother. You are both your own people."

He had hoped his words would bring her comfort, but she still seemed uneasy.

"But... what if we do something worse?" she asked.

"What makes you think that you will?" he asked calmly in reply after a moment. "Has your mother ever done anything to make you think that she would? Do you want to do anything like what Aku has done?" Kiko let out a gasp.

"Oh, my gosh! NO!" she cried out.

"I believe that answers your question then," he told her. "I do not believe that you'll be anything like him. I know that your mother certainly isn't."

Jack watched as a small smile came to her face.

"No, she really isn't at all," she agreed.

The continued the rest of the way in relative silence. When they finally reached their destination, Jack opened the door for her to a large, elegant room with a futon prepared in the middle of it.

"This is where you'll be staying tonight. We have servants who will attend you and I'll be on the other side of the building if you need anything," Jack explained.

"This whole room is for me?" Kiko asked, seemingly puzzled. "You're not going to stay with me?"

"Oh," he replied, taken aback by the question. "Do you need me to?"

"N-no," she answered. "I just… never had a big room just for me before. Me and mama always slept in the same room. I think I'll be okay, though."

With that, Kiko began to walk into the room on her own. As Jack began to slide the door shut behind her, he found a pair of small hands clad in black pushing it back, enough for her to poke her head out of the door frame.

"Umm, Papa? About… _him_ ," she whispered in a concerned voice. "This is a different time and place."

Jack looked to her, puzzled.

"I mean… you're sure he's dead here, right?" she asked. "He can't come after us?"

Jack bent a knee so that he was close to the same eye level as the nervous girl. "I destroyed him myself, Kiko," he said calmly. "I can assure you that the Aku of this land is very much so dead. You're in no danger here."

"Okay, Papa," she said calmly after a moment. "Good night."

As she shut the door, Jack began to walk away. He took not five steps when he suddenly heard the girl shout, "Papa! Wait!"

He turned around fast, to see Kiko throw the door open and rush over to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked urgently.

"Nothing, I just realized something," she told him. "Can you… get down on one of your knees again? Please?"

He was confused by the request but did as she asked.

"What exactly did you realize that requires this?" he questioned.

Without another word, the girl threw her arms around him in an embrace, surprising him. Jack barely placed a hand on her back, when she pulled away with a smile on her face.

"Good night, Papa," she said. She then placed her fingertips to her lips and then to his.

She explained before he could ask about the gesture, "I just realized I don't have to do that to a picture anymore. It feels weird."

"B-but in a good way!" she quickly added when he raised an eyebrow at the statement. "I… guess I have to do that for Mama now."

"You would say good night to a picture of me?" he asked after a moment.

"It was part of some of the stuff Mama taught me about you," she began to explain.

* * *

Jack became engrossed in what Kiko had to say about how her mother talked about him. If he had a mind to care about it, he might have said something to two servants, two guards, and two of his mother's handmaidens who also became engrossed in what Kiko was telling him.

It was only after their conversation had ended and each had gone to their separate rooms that the first of them dared to breathe a word to their companion: " _Did that girl just call the Prince... her father?_ "

* * *

Jack rested in his bed, but did not sleep, his mind mulling over all that had happened that day.

 _My Ashi._

This morning he'd thought his lost bride dead and now she's alive and Aku is somehow also alive in another world, and apparently, their daughter generated a time portal.

 _Our daughter._

The thought occurred to him that if they were on the same clock or time frame, Ashi would likely be starting to realize that she was pregnant, and he could not help feeling guilty that she had to parent their child alone.

 _She bore our child out of wedlock._

He thinks of how fondly Kiko spoke of the Scotsman, her "Uncle Ghost," along with her "Aunties" and wonders what sort relationship they have with Ashi.

Mostly, however, he can't help thinking of the fact that Ashi has had to face Aku alone for eight years.

 _Eight years._

His heart and mind become heavy with guilt. This is not the future he wanted to give either of them.

 _This should not have been your duty, but mine._

He thinks of Kiko, her trauma, and her comment that she'll have to start kissing a picture of her mother goodnight instead of his.

He wonders if he'll have to wait eight years before he can find her again, dread growing inside him. If they could reunite before that, would it undo something? Would it create another world like Kiko tried to explain? Would he be forced to watch as they both disappeared in front of him?

Jack buried his face in his hands, beginning to cry in the frustration of trying to understand it all.

 _Ashi. Forgive me._

 _You had to do all of this alone and I couldn't help you._

 _If I have the power, I swear I will find a way to undo what you've endured._

 _I swear to you: I will protect our daughter. I will find you again._

… _no._

 _We will find you again._

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait for the new chapter. I am desperately trying to get a new job and my job hunt ate up a giant chunk of my time in the past six weeks, and most likely, it will keep doing so. I don't think I'm going to be able to do the "new chapter every week" thing like I was doing back in January and February, but I have every intention to keep working on this in what time I can spare. Honestly, I'm still surprised that I was able to put out the earlier chapters of this as frequently as I did._

 _Thank you for reading and I'll post again as soon as the next chapter's ready!_


	12. Chapter 11

Kiko was unable to sleep, unused to having her own room and missing her mother's presence.

She found herself looking at the strange black covering on her body and wishing that she had thought to ask her mother how she was able to will it away from her when she didn't want it.

As she began trying to pick it apart, she was startled to suddenly hear someone shout, "PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU! WE NEED THE PRINCE'S HELP! THAT MONSTER HAS ALREADY DEVOURED SEVEN OF MY DAUGHTERS AND IT MEANS TO DEVOUR MY LAST!"

" _Monster?"_ she wondered. Without thinking about what she was doing, Kiko found herself looking for the source of the voice. She could make out someone telling him to calm himself.

"What on Earth is going on out here?" she heard the Emperor say as she drew closer.

As they began to come into view, she suddenly felt a hand at her shoulder. She let out a sharp inhale and turned to find the Empress at her side, her hair down and dressed in a white robe.

Much to her own confusion, she no longer looked at her with the confused, fearful eyes that she had felt upon her as she and her father left the garden that afternoon. In it's place seemed to be kindness and something else she wasn't sure how to describe.

"You're just as curious as he was at your age, I see," she whispered softly after a moment. Kiko furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Just as curious as who?" she asked.

"Mother?" they heard Jack's voice, and turned to see him approach, still wearing the white gi he had worn during the day. "What is happening?"

The elderly woman only motioned towards the next room. As he began to enter, Kiko tried to follow, only to have him stop her.

"Kiko, wait here," he said softly.

"Huh? Why can't I-?" she began to ask, only to feel a gentle pull towards the Empress.

She watched as she leaned down to say, "It is unseemly for courtly ladies to be seen as we are."

"A what kinda lady?" she questioned. Had Kiko been paying attention to him, she would have seen the surprise on her father's face.

The Empress turned her attention back to Jack.

"Go inside, my son. I'll keep her out of trouble," she assured him with a smile.

Jack paused for a moment before continuing forward. The Empress guided the girl away from the entrance slightly, but did not leave the area. Seeing the girl send her a questioning look, the Empress only held her finger to her lips.

* * *

Jack continued forward, taken aback by his mother's change in attitude towards his child, but unable to really question it yet. His attention drew towards an elder man in merchant's clothes running towards him. He noticed the guards on duty preparing to defend him, but he quickly motioned for them to stand down as the man dropped to his knees and hands in front of him.

"Your Highness," the man began, his voice hoarse and cracking. "Your Highness, please help us."

Jack looked beyond him and saw an elder woman with her arms around a young woman who held what seemed to be younger versions of her features. Both of their expressions were pensive and fearful and their eyes red as though they had been weeping. He knelt and helped the man stand back up.

"What is it you need aid with, sir?" he asked gently. He saw that the man's eyes were just as red as the two women.

The man took a deep breath and began, "Our village has been under attack by a horrible, giant serpent with eight heads. It has already eaten seven of my daughters alive and I fear for my last as it will attack again soon. As the man who slew Aku, I know that this beast will be no match for you."

The man fell to his knees as he continued, "I beg of you, Your Highness. Please help us."

* * *

Kiko listened in silence as Jack made arrangements for the elderly couple and their last remaining daughter to be placed in a secure home in the City while he investigated this situation.

 _A giant, eight-headed serpent._

Her mind reeled as she tried to imagine such a grotesque creature. It certainly wasn't something she wanted to see, but she thought if her father meant to go face it, then she might not have a choice. Her mind backtracked to the last time she saw a monster with one of her parents. It was only when she suddenly felt the Empress holding her that she realized that her whole body had begun shaking.

"Fear not, Little One," the old woman whispered to her. "You're safe here."

Part of the child wanted to object to the idea, but something inside of her gave way and all that escaped from the girl's throat was a sob that she hadn't realized she was holding in.

That was how Jack and the Emperor came around the corner and found her crying into her Grandmother's shoulder. Jack scooped her up in his arms and tried to console her.

Through tears, she told him, "I don't want to go see the giant serpent."

Taken aback by the statement, he asked, "What on Earth makes you think I'm taking you with me?"

Kiko looked up to him in surprise. "You're leaving me here? B-but I just found you!"

"A battle is no place for a child, Kiko," he stopped her. "This creature is big enough to be eating people and I shall need to keep my wits about me. I can't do that if I have to focus on keeping you safe, as well."

"But… where am I gonna stay?" she asked.

"You'll be staying here with us, of course," the Emperor told her. Jack and Kiko both looked to him in surprise.

"No harm will come to you while you are here... my grandchild," he paused. "I won't allow it."

The girl looked to him and then to the Empress. Feeling suspicious, she asked, "Why are you two being nice to me now?"

"We-" the Emperor began but suddenly stopped. His expression morphed as if unsure how to explain something. After a moment, he continued, "We received confirmation of what you told us from... a very unexpected source."

Jack felt himself raise an eyebrow. "What source could have provided confirmation this quickly?"

The Emperor and the Empress looked to each other, and having no reason to not explain further, they told him of their visit and what was said.

Jack looked at them in surprise, while Kiko's confused and suspicious expression remained unchanged.

"I am grateful she was able to convince you," Jack sighed after a moment.

"I thought that the Gods didn't interact with people like that?" Kiko questioned. "That's weird."

"No, it's not," Jack continued. "I met Odin, Rama, and Ra when I became worthy to wield the sword again."

Kiko looked to him in surprise. Had she been paying attention to her grandparents, she would have noticed surprise come to their features as well.

"Y-you did?" she asked.

"I did. I've also seen Valkyries and I've had to fight Minions of Set."

Again, had she been paying attention to them, she would have seen her grandmother raise a hand to cover her mouth.

"When did you do all that? Did Mama have to fight them, too?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

Jack smiled and said, "Why don't we save that story for after I come back? Rest is needed for all of us now."

Kiko sighed and quietly agreed.

* * *

Once morning came, Kiko left her room to go find Jack, only to discover him waiting patiently at her door.

"I thought perhaps you'd like to see me off," he explained.

The two walked down to where his horse was being kept in silence. After sometime of not hearing so much as a word, Jack looked down to her to find her face in a displeased pout. Despite her features distinctly looking like a miniature versions of his, he couldn't help thinking that she looked like her mother.

"Kiko," he said, stopping a moment. "I meant what I said."

She stopped, turning her face up to him.

"We are going to go find a way back to the future to help your mother. I haven't forgotten what I said."

"I know," she said after a moment. "Mama has to run off sometimes to go help people, too."

"She does?" he questioned.

"Yeah. I'm not allowed to go with her either," she said remorsefully. "I tried a couple of times, but she kept grounding me."

"N-not that I wanna go see the giant snake," she added quickly.

Jack thought back to her words last night. Part of him had worried that taking Kiko into fights had been normal for Ashi when he thought about how she thought she was going with him and thanked the Gods that wasn't the reason.

"If she didn't allow you to do that, what makes you think I would?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered quietly after a moment, holding her arms. "It's just… I just found you and… I don't think I can find the way back by myself."

"What does your mother tell you before she leaves?" he asked softly after a moment.

"She says… it's not easy for her either, but she always comes back. She always comes home," she answered sadly. "It doesn't get easier, but she always comes back."

"I think that sounds right," he answered, half to himself.

"Huh?" Kiko said, looking to him for an answer.

"It's always tough at first, but we find a way," he answered. "Does that sound right to you?"

"Why does it always have to be tough, though?" she asked.

"That's… just the way it is," Jack explained.

"Well… I could be tough if I had to," Kiko stated.

Jack laughed quietly to himself. "Are you going to be a tough girl for me?"

"Yeah!"

The two of them entered the stable to find the Emperor and the Empress waiting, along with his white stallion, groomed and saddled.

Jack bid them farewell and mounted the horse. Despite his promise to return, Kiko couldn't help worrying for him as he faded out of sight into the distance.

The Emperor smiled shyly as he placed a hand to her back

"My dear," he said to the Empress. "Shall we see to it that this Little One is properly clothed?"

"Of course," she replied. "We can't have her running about in nothing but that strange black material."

* * *

Jack surveyed the remains of the massive serpent. He had a mind to try to reason with the creature when he had first arrived, but it's actions had made it clear that it was having none of it. The Samurai made short work of the beast, ending it quickly.

He watched the corpse for fear of it returning to life and his eyes narrowed as he saw the creature's belly move. As he came closer, he realized that the movement was not as though the creature were still alive. In fact, it seemed to move in different sections of the stomach. For a brief second, Jack thought that it seemed like something was trying to get out.

He thought of the seven daughters the elder couple had lost and began to wonder if it were possible.

Taking a chance and hoping that he wasn't about to unleash something else, he drew his sword and sliced open the creature's belly to create a door of flesh and scales.

He heard cries of fright and stepped back as arms flew to faces within the creature's belly. One by one, the arms fell to reveal the faces of women.

At first, they said nothing with their faces frozen in shock and surprise. However, as Jack stepped forward with an outstretched hand, explaining that Orochi had been slain, they all suddenly tried to get out at once in such hurry that they wound up tripping over each other and knocking him over as they got out.

They thanked him with tears in their eyes and apologized profusely for knocking him down.

Jack began to soothe the women as much as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shining within the beast's stomach. He stopped for a moment to ask what it was. He was greeted with silence as the daughters didn't want to look to where he was pointing. Eventually, one gathered enough courage to look. She then mentioned that she had thought she'd felt something poking her in the back.

He moved closer and saw that the shine seemed to belong to a short golden rod. He cautiously reached inside and realized the rod seemed to be molded for his hand. In one swift movement, he pulled it out and realized that what he had thought was a rod was actually the hilt of a sword.

While the surviving women had exited looking bloody and disheveled, this strange golden blade exited looking as though it had been in a well kept treasury, rather than a giant serpent's stomach. In fact, it seemed to shine with a strange radiance that he couldn't identify.

He continued holding the sword, he began to feel a familiar weight in his hand.

It was the same weight he had felt from his father's sword. He knew that this blade had a purpose, though he wasn't sure what.

Jack turned his attention back to the women and asked for their permission to keep the strange sword. They gave it happily, feeling it was the least they could do to thank him.

Once the daughters had realized that their final sister and parents were nowhere to be found, they began to fear the worst.

Jack calmed them quickly and explained that they had been the ones who sought him out and they were safe in the Imperial City.

* * *

Amaterasu looked down upon the slain body of Orochi and the golden sword the Samurai now held in his hands and smiled.

"Well," she smiled. "There's the sword. Now to locate the other two pieces we need."

* * *

 _Author's Note: And now we finally have Chapter 11. My new job has been eating up a lot of my time but hopefully it won't be another 5 months until the next one._


	13. Chapter 12

Jack had escorted the seven elder daughters to the City and watched the tearful reunion of the family of ten.

Knowing his own parents and daughter would want to know of his safe return, he tried to excuse himself from the scene quietly, with the strange sword he'd found wrapped up in linen. The father, however, stopped him briefly to thank him and humbly offered to let him take one of his daughters as a consort, saying that they were the only thing he could really offer him.

Jack blushed and politely turned him down, saying that there was only one woman he really wanted.

As he shut the door behind him, he suddenly heard a barrage of angry screams coming from nine women being directed at the only man in the room with them. He wasn't quite sure if they were angry with the head of their family or him, but he didn't particularly care either way.

Jack kept his face hidden as he walked though the streets of an open market, stopping briefly by a well for a drink.

"Haven't you heard?" a peasant woman whispered excitedly to her companion. "There could be a new princess!" Jack rolled his eyes at the statement as he filled his cup.

"How could that be? I heard that the Prince was heartbroken and inconsolable over what happened to poor Princess Ashi," the companion said.

"No, no, not like that," the peasant corrected her. "I have a friend who works in the Palace. She overheard this strange little girl calling the Prince her father!" Jack nearly dropped his drink in surprise.

"What!?" the companion nearly shouted. "A-are you – Is she sure?"

"Pretty sure," the peasant said. "Apparently, the girl looks a lot like him, too."

There was a pause before the companion spoke. "I… suppose it is possible that the Prince may have sewed a wild oat while he was out training. Has he acknowledged that she's his? I haven't heard any official news about this."

Jack wanted to say something, but stopped himself, realizing they'd only look at him in the same manner his parents had when he'd first tried to explain the situation with Kiko. He finished his drink quickly and continued on his way.

* * *

When he arrived at the palace, he was showed to the private gardens quickly, and found his parents entertaining Kiko, who was now dressed in a lovely green kimono and giggling about something they had told her.

The second she noticed him approaching, she ran over to him and hugged him. Jack couldn't help smiling and knelt down to embrace her.

He watched as his parents approached and saw their eyes fall to the linen-wrapped sword he carried with them. He rose and removed the cloth to show them the strange golden blade. A look of recognition came to the Emperor and the Empress's faces.

The Emperor closed his eyes for a moment and breathed slowly.

"It is just as she told us," the Empress whispered to her husband. When Jack's expression shifted as if to question, she continued before he could ask.

"Amaterasu told us that another holy blade would present itself to you and that it would be one of three tools needed to slay Aku in -" she paused, not quite sure how to talk about the other timeline. "I-in the other world."

The strange, familiar weight of the sword finally made sense.

"How long will you be gone?" the Emperor asked solemnly.

Jack was silent as he looked at Kiko, wondering if he should tell them her age and his mind wondering back to his own questions on the passage of time. However, he knew exactly what to tell them.

"As long as it takes," he said with conviction in his voice.

"Very well," his father relented. "We shall attend to matters here. There is however… one situation we need to address first."

"It came to our attention earlier today that our people have become aware of… a rather curious child running around the palace, and they are asking questions concerning where she came from."

"I have heard our people speak of her outside the palace," Jack spoke quietly, placing a hand on Kiko's shoulder. The child looked up to him briefly before looking back to her grandparents.

"What do we tell them of your absence?" his father asked.

Jack took a deep breath and paused, understanding what questions were being asked. He thought of the entire situation at hand and considered that telling everyone Aku was alive somewhere could incite a panic, even if they were certain that he couldn't be in this time.

"There isn't a need to over complicate our situation, or to give details that would just frighten our people," he stated calmly after a moment. "We only need to tell them this truth: Kiko is my daughter, and I will see her reunited with her mother."

He didn't need to look at the girl to know that she was smiling.

* * *

Amaterasu smiled at the conviction in her descendant's voice as he made his vow.

Lachesis sighed, thinking of her poor tangled threads.

"The sooner we resolve this, the better," she whispered to herself.

"Indeed," the Sun Goddess responded, turning to her. "Now we need to care of another necessity. Your sister mentioned someone within your Pantheon that could help with keeping Ashi and Kiko alive after we reforge their souls?"

Lachesis gained a grave look on her face that told the Sun Goddess that she didn't wish to speak of that.

"I know whom Atropos was speaking of," she said quietly. "There is only one Goddess in our Pantheon that would have the power of rebirth."

"I must confess my knowledge of your Pantheon is limited," Amaterasu spoke thoughtfully."Am I correct in assuming she means The Dread Queen of your Underworld? She who's name is considered unsafe for mortals to speak?"

"Not unsafe for us, however," the Fate Goddess explained."Her name is Persephone, and she and her husband do not take lightly to mortals escaping death. I am not certain that she would help us."

"I think she will, once we explain the situation to her," Amaterasu responded calmly.

"What makes you so certain?" Lachesis asked.

"Because she's met the Samurai and was impressed with him," the Sun Goddess explained. "She may insist upon issuing another test but I'm sure it would be nothing they couldn't handle."

The Fate Goddess looked to her, confused by her statement.

"Persephone and the Samurai have met? When did that happen?" she questioned.

"Well, he didn't know it was her; she was in disguise. I doubt that he even questioned her identity," Amaterasu continued. "I _was_ angry with her for trying to trap him at the time, but once she explained her reasons to me, I was more… understanding."

"But I digress. We need go to her," she finished. "Are you able to take us to the Underworld?"

"Well… yes, but..." Lachesis hesitated, not sure how to explain. "She wouldn't be there. It's springtime, so she'd be with her mother for sometime now."

"Why would that be?" the Sun Goddess asked.

Lachesis hesitated again.

"It's… complicated."

* * *

 _Author's Note: We are getting there. Slowly, but surely. We are getting there. Work has kept me busy and exhausted and I'm currently getting distracted by another old fandom, but I won't let that stop me from finishing this._

 _Chapter 13 will introduce Persephone and further explain how Amaterasu knows her. (For those who want to take a stab at guessing, the event Amaterasu tells Lachesis about here is in reference to an episode from when Samurai Jack still had a TV-Y7 rating.)  
_

 _Chapter 14 will focus back on Jack and Kiko._


End file.
